V i&?1 Elliot on the Genus Pitta. 1 87 



the 'Analyse,' but that on the contrary in the one instance in 

 Vol. Ill he referred to his work in the same way as he did in 

 Vols. XXIV and XXVI, as actually published and in existence, 

 which Dr. Stejneger acknowledges to be a fact at the date of the 

 last two volumes. It will thus be seen that the reasons given by 

 Dr. Stejneger for his belief that the 'Analyse' appeared after the 

 first six volumes of the 'Dictionnaire' fail to support his view, but 

 that the evidence tends directly against it, and more strongly to 

 confirm our belief that the 'Analyse' was a prior publication. 



The second point in which I take issue with our author is that 

 the species of Vieillot's genus Pitta and those of the French name 

 Breve are not taken from Buffo n (although Vieillot expressly states 

 they are), but from Montbeillard, and he quotes the 'Histoire 

 Naturelle des Oiseaux,' Vol. Ill, 1775, p. 412 — an edition of eight 

 volumes 1770— 1781. In this volume four species are given under 

 Bnwe as stated by Dr. Stejneger, and one as 'L'Azurin,' which 

 is Pitta guiana P. L. S. Mtlller, the Br&ve de la Guiane of 

 plate 355 of the 'Planches Enluminees.' 



The standard edition of Buffon's Hist. Nat. Ois., commonly 

 known as the 'Planches Enluminees,' is in ten volumes published 

 from 1770-1 786 ; and this is the work usually understood when 

 any reference is made to Buffon concerning birds, and the one 

 generally quoted. Why Dr. Stejneger should deem it necessary 

 to select something else, and so endeavor to make Vieillot, when 

 he designates in the 'Analyse' "Buffon's Breves" as the species 

 for his genus Pitta, include any not mentioned in the work 

 above referred to, seems strange, as so little is to be gained by it 

 anyway. The word Srhve is a French term universally applied 

 to the species of Pitta, the same as Cohibri or Oiseaux-mouches 

 is to Hummingbirds, and includes all the species comprised in 

 the family. That Vieillot regarded 'L'Azurin' as a Pitta (no 

 matter what Montbeillard considered it) is shown in the 'Dic- 

 tionnaire,' Vol. IV, p. 356, where he calls it 'La Breve Azurine,' 

 and if Dr. Stejneger considers that the 'Analyse' was published 

 after the 'Dictionnaire,' then this species must be included in 

 Vieillot's genus Pitta, because it is in both the edition quoted by 

 him as well as in plate 355 of the standard edition, and therefore 

 his volume would contain five Pittas against four in the work from 

 which I quote, in either case making Pitta a composite genus 

 containing both long- and short-tailed species. 



